Category Archives: spirituality
Virginia Woolf’s ‘A Sketch of the Past’
From it all I gathered one obstinate and enduring conception. That nothing is to be so much dreaded as egotism. Nothing so cruelly hurts the person himself; nothing so wounds those who are forced into contact with it.—Virginia Woolf, writing … Continue reading
Filed under emotion, memoir, NOTED, spirituality
Flannery O’Connor’s scary scowl
While searching for something else entirely, I came across this remarkable interview on Vimeo with Flannery O’Connor’s good friend Louise Abbot, who discusses O’Connor’s disdain for fame, among other things. The unusual, very occasional blog where I found the interview … Continue reading
Filed under fiction, NOTED, spirituality
Flannery O’Connor, Harper Lee, Walker Percy
My southern fiction orgy last summer started with Flannery O’Connor. Since I often dip into her stories, I bought and read the latest bio of her, Flannery: A Life of Flannery O’Connor by Brad Gooch. I hoped to learn how … Continue reading
Filed under fiction, NOTED, sentimentality, spirituality, syntax, theme
The quotes on my desktop
There are quotes about writing on my desktop. Actually, they’re in a Word file, at the top of a journal I’ve kept for the last year as I produced a fourth version of my memoir. I don’t make journal entries … Continue reading
Filed under Dillard—Saint Annie, MY LIFE, reading, spirituality, working method
Thoughts at Eastertime, too
This is my second, and final, excerpt from my memoir’s Epilogue. At this point, after the death of our farm helper, Sam, we’ve sold the sheep flock we tended for a decade. My mother has just died. We’re getting ready … Continue reading
Filed under evolutionary psychology, memoir, MY LIFE, spirituality
Thoughts on Palm Sunday
Below is part of the new Epilogue of the memoir I’m writing. The book is about my and my family’s experiences living in Appalachian Ohio for thirteen years, years in which our children grew up, my wife, Kathy, rose through … Continue reading
Filed under memoir, MY LIFE, spirituality
Nabokov’s ‘Speak, Memory,’ ver. 2.0
Olga Khotiashova responded to my review of Vladimir Nabokov’s memoir Speak, Memory by posting as a comment a lovely essay, which I have also featured as a guest post, below; it unites her personal history with her reading of the … Continue reading
Filed under memoir, politics, REVIEW, spirituality, vocabulary
Review: ‘Name All the Animals’
Name All the Animals: A Memoir by Alison Smith. Scribner. 319 pages. In 1984, a small, happy family lives in Rochester, New York: a resolute, devout mother; a dreamy, spiritual father; a quiet, competent boy; a watchful, bookish girl. But … Continue reading
Filed under memoir, narrative, REVIEW, spirituality, voice
